{{Short description|Westmeath Gaelic footballer and hurler}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox Gaelic games player | name = Alan Mangan | image = | alt = | caption = | <!-- Personal information --> | irish = | sport = | clposition = | icposition = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1979}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | feet = | inches = | nickname = Budda<ref name="lion's_den" /> | occupation = | <!-- Club(s) --> | clyears = | clubs = | clapps(points) = | <!-- Club titles --> | code = Football | county = Westmeath | clcounty = | province = | clprovince = | clallireland = | <!-- Colleges(s) --> | colyears = | colleges = | colapps(points) = | <!-- College titles --> | fitz = | sig = | <!-- Inter-county(ies) --> | icyears = | counties = Westmeath | icapps(points) = | <!-- Inter-county titles --> | icprovince = | icconnacht = | iculster = | icleinster = 1 | icmunster = | icallireland = | nfl = | nhl = | allstars = | <!-- Last updated --> | clupdate = | icupdate = }} '''Alan Mangan''' (born June 1979)<ref name="lion's_den" /> is a dual player of Gaelic games, a hurling coach, manager, selector and former Gaelic footballer. He played football and hurling for Westmeath.
==Playing career== ===Club=== Mangan first played hurling for Castletown Geoghegan as a 16-year-old, at which age he played as a goalkeeper in a Westmeath Senior Hurling Championship final.<ref name="lion's_den" /> He won three Westmeath SHC medals while playing with his club, the first in 2004, adding another in 2013.<ref name="lion's_den" />
Mangan also played football for the St Malachy's club.<ref name="lion's_den" />
===Inter-county=== Mangan played senior inter-county hurling for Westmeath for two years: 1999 and 2000.<ref name="lion's_den" />
His inter-county football debut for Westmeath, limited to substitute appearances, was as part of the team that won the 1999 All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship and retained the Leinster Under-21 Football Championship the following year, under the management of Luke Dempsey.<ref name="lion's_den" /> Then Mangan featured for the county junior team, twice scoring five points from play, with both games against Offaly.<ref name="lion's_den" /> Westmeath's junior team manager Ned Moore contacted Dempsey (who had by then been promoted to the position of senior team manager) and convinced him to call Mangan into his panel.<ref name="lion's_den" /> Mangan arrived onto the senior panel the following year.<ref name="lion's_den" /> Mangan's first senior game for Westmeath was against All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title holder Galway at Cusack Park.<ref name="lion's_den" /> He was put into the team in place of established corner-forward Ger Heavin and assigned to mark Tomás Mannion.<ref name="lion's_den" />
Dempsey used Mangan as a substitute against Meath in a draw and then a replay in the 2003 championship before starting him against Monaghan, in what would be Dempsey's last game as manager.<ref name="lion's_den" />
Páidí Ó Sé succeeded Dempsey as manager.<ref name="lion's_den" /> Ó Sé left Mangan out for the first 2004 O'Byrne Cup but started him in the second game of the competition, against Kildare.<ref name="lion's_den" /> Mangan scored three points against Kildare.<ref name="lion's_den" /> He started every game for Westmeath after that (O'Byrne, league and championship) until he injured his knee in 2009.<ref name="lion's_den" />
Mangan was one of those who won the 2004 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final.<ref>{{cite news |first=Eamonn |last=Sweeney |url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/end-of-120-years-hurt-482432.html |title=End of 120 years' hurt |newspaper=Sunday Independent |date=25 July 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Colm |last=O'Rourke |authorlink=Colm O'Rourke |url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/pid-guides-midlands-army-to-glory-482427.html |title=Páidí guides midlands army to glory | newspaper=Sunday Independent |date=25 July 2004}}</ref> Ó Sé made a memorable comparison between Mangan and a loaf of bread after Darren Rooney of Laois knocked him over the sideline during the drawn game between the teams.<ref name="lion's_den" /> Mangan then scored four points from play in Westmeath's next game.<ref name="lion's_den" />
==Post-playing career== Mangan was a selector when Michael Ryan managed the Westmeath hurlers.<ref name="lion's_den" />
He ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Labour Party in the Longford–Westmeath constituency at the 2020 Irish general election, with the intention of replacing the retiring Willie Penrose.<ref name=elecs_irl>{{cite web |url=https://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=11974 |title=Alan Mangan |work=ElectionsIreland.org |accessdate=16 February 2020}}</ref><ref name=retaining_Labour_seat>{{cite news|url=http://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/2018/07/06/mangan-up-to-the-challenge-of-retaining-labour-seat/|title=Mangan 'up to the challenge' of retaining Labour seat|work=Westmeath Examiner|date=6 July 2018}}</ref> Mangan was coaxed into running, as Penrose was a family friend, though Mangan's mother advised him against.<ref name="lion's_den" /> He cancelled a holiday that he had paid for in New York when the election was suddenly called.<ref name="lion's_den" /> Due to his involvement in that election he also refused various coaching and management offers that he received in early 2020.<ref name="lion's_den" />
Mangan then joined the Westmeath senior hurlers in a coaching capacity later in 2020.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/glennon-to-make-westmeath-switch-39611529.html|title=Glennon to make Westmeath switch|work=Irish Independent|date=12 October 2020}}</ref> As of 2022, he was managing the Castletown Geoghegan hurlers.<ref name="lion's_den">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/daunting-trip-into-ballyhales-lions-den-for-castletown-geoghegan-42139789.html|title=Daunting trip into Ballyhale's lion's den: Alan Mangan leads his side into Leinster battle with nothing to lose|work=Sunday Independent|first=Dermot|last=Crowe|date=13 November 2022|quote=Eighteen years after being memorably compared to a loaf of bread by an exasperated Páidí Ó Sé, Alan Mangan is still playing football at the age of 43... He was turning 25 in June, 2004, so it took time to make it as a county footballer... 'I am 43 now. Not good enough to be on the starting team anymore with St Malachy's but I'm still plugging away'... One last thing, the nickname, Budda? It derives from his father's physical resemblance to the founder of Buddhism. The 'h' has been dropped.}}</ref>
==Personal life== Mangan is married to Corinne and is a father of four.<ref name="lion's_den" /> He is from the village of Castletown Geoghegan.<ref name=retaining_Labour_seat/> He inherited his nickname ("Budda") from his father and is known throughout Westmeath by it.<ref name="lion's_den" /> Only Dessie Dolan and the Westmeath hurling manager Michael Ryan ever refer to him as "Alan".<ref name="lion's_den" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Navboxes |title=Wetsmeath squads |bg=maroon |fg=white |list1= {{Westmeath Football Team 2004}} {{2008 Westmeath NFL Team}} }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mangan, Alan}} Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Castletown Geoghegan hurlers Category:Dual players Category:Hurling coaches Category:Hurling managers Category:Hurling selectors Category:Irish sportsperson-politicians Category:Labour Party (Ireland) candidates in Dáil elections Category:People from Castletown Geoghegan Category:Westmeath county hurling team Category:Westmeath inter-county Gaelic footballers